The air smelled of the musk of an ancient library and burnt flesh. Kael stepped onto the floor of mummified eyelids, which opened beneath him with the sound of unrolling scrolls. Each step left a shimmering mercury imprint, as if the Plane of Dried Tears remembered his presence.
The mirror-child was waiting for him.
—Do you know why I cry dry tears, Dad? he asked, without looking up. "Because the Council stole my right to be real."
One of his tears fell to the floor and solidified into a bone key.
Kael (looking at the key):
"You are not my son. You are another deception of the Council."
The Child, laughing in a voice like breaking glass:
"Deception." What a small word for something so big. The Council doesn't lie, Papa. It only forgets... like you.
He held out his mercury-stained hand. Another tear fell, transforming into a crystal eye that revealed:
The First Council: Eleven mortal beings who drank from the Primordial Source.
The Betrayal: When the Faceless Mask tried to free the Source from its slumber.
The Punishment: How they split it into seven fragments (the Exile is only one).
The Child (stroking the eye):
"They use you to hunt what they cannot destroy. But... (whispering) what if what you hunt is part of you?"
The Book of Flesh at Kael's waist suddenly groaned. Its pages opened on their own, revealing text written in fresh blood:
"Article 13: The Ways are not tools. They are parasites. And they hunger."
Kael, touching the wet letters:
"What the hell...?"
The Child smiled slightly as he pointed and whispered to Kael, "Look closer, Papa."
Kael's veins had formed new runes:
"You were born of a Path. You will die by it."
Suddenly, the Book of Bones shook violently. A scream erupted from its pages, and then the truth emerged:
The Paths are fragments of the original Council members, and they in turn are part of the primordial god.
Kael's Path belonged to the Faceless Mask.
That's why she can steal memories: because she first stole her own identity.
Kael gripped the key tightly until blood flowed from his hand. The interesting thing was whether it came from Kael himself or from the key itself.
"Tell me how to break the cycle."
The Child, with mercury tears seeming to slowly melt:
"You've done it. Thousands of times." (Pointing to the broken mirrors on his throne) Look.
The reflections showed:
One Kael drowning in mercury.
Another stabbing Lirya. An older one, with eclipse eyes, speaking to the Silent Executioner.
"The Council does not fear the eclipsed... it fears what comes next."
The child's third tear fell, creating a shard of talking mirror. It showed:
The Silent Executioner kneeling before the original Kael in his golden prison.
His words (in primordial language): "We should never have created the Twelfth Place."
Then... something behind them flickered.
The shard screamed before shattering:
"THEY ARE COMING!"
At that instant:
The vocal cord "trees" began to scream Kael's forgotten name.
The mercury arm turned on him, forming a dagger pointed at his throat, giving Kael little chance to stop it.
The Boy whispered, as he began to disappear in a strange way, unsure if he was running away from something...
"Find the other six tears... or you'll just be another broken mirror."